So, the final chapter at the arena… This is also going to be a longer chapter.
So how does all of this play out? Read to find out!
Well I'm not going to keep you waiting, here we go, the final chapter at the arena, but NOT the final chapter to this fic.
To answer MusicalManias question: Yes, in the real story they have a new rule that two can win if they're from the same district, but I didn't want to be a "copycat" so I decided to take a different direction in my story, to get a different storyline in the ending. Also thank you for taking time to leave a longer review, and thank you for reviewing so often.
I would like to thank you everyone who has taken time to leave a review, it's much appreciated and really gives me strength to continue this story. I would also like to say thank you to everyone who has taken time to favorite and follow both this story and me as an author. THANKS! It really means a lot!
Also this chapter is going to be both Chuck and Sarah's POV.
Also, I keep changing the name of this story all the time (as you may have noticed), but if anyone has a good idea of a name for this story then please tell me! :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or the Hunger Games
Chuck Bartowski opened his eyes and sat up for the umpteenth time that night. He was high up in a tree, about fifty meters away from the tree where Sarah, unknowing about Chuck following her, slept.
Each time he lay down to sleep, some stupid part of his brain went:
"What if she's in danger? What if, right now, she's being attacked by Shaw while you're just lying here sleeping?"
He sighed and looked away at the tree where Sarah was. It had only been about three hours since they left the cave. Three hours ago everything had been normal, or at least as normal as it got. They had been talking and joking. He had been given a miraculous way for both of them to survive…
He searched through the branches of the tree and found her silhouette, she hadn't moved since the last time he checked, about two minutes ago.
"I need to relax."He thought to himself. "The arena is huge, it can be days before Shaw finds us! And who said that Shaw finds Sarah first? He could just as well find me first! We'll fight, He'll give me a bad injury and I'll kill him, I'll take the pill, and everyone will think that I'm dead… I'll go back to district 12 and wait for Sarah. She'll come home too, and we'll live happily ever after…"
That was the dream-scenario that he had been having in his head for the past few hours. A pretty unrealistic scenario really. If, or when, he and Shaw got into a fight the chances that he would not only kill Shaw, but that he himself would get away without fatal injuries, was minimal. Shaw would probably have killed him before he even had time to get his knife…
He sighed again and checked on Sarah one last time before he finally went to sleep. As he lay down he wondered where all of these dreams and hopes came from. As soon as Sarah's name had been called at the reaping he stopped having dreams and hopes. Even then he felt doomed. When his own name got called he got a new dream, a dream that had been the only thing keeping him sane in the arena. A dream that made him look past all of the killing and horror in the arena:
The dream that Sarah would come home.
That was what he had been fighting for since the reaping, that was what kept him warm at nights. The thought of her safe and happy back in district 12.
When his mom had sent him that letter he had been given a new way to see things. A new chance, a chance for both of them to live. A way for them to be safe and happy in district 12, together. Chuck had accepted a long time ago that he was going to die, but know that he had been given this opportunity to stay alive, he wanted nothing more.
He was afraid to die now, knowing what he could have if he didn't. Knowing all those things that he would miss if his heart stopped.
"I'm going to fight for it."He whispered to himself. "For all of it."
And then he finally fell asleep.
"Chuck?"
He moved, but didn't open his eyes.
"Chuck baby?"
He opened his eyes and looked around.
He was in a large bright room, with beautiful white furniture and a large window with beautiful floral curtains. In the center of the room was a big bed, in which he was laying.
"Hi there."
He looked at his side, and there she was.
Sarah was laying next to him, leaning on one of her elbows she was looking at him with sparkling eyes. She looked older, not much, but she was at least thirty. With her blond hair shorter, and with laugh wrinkles around her eyes.
What was this? Some kind of pipe dream? This was all he had ever wanted. The two of them, happy and together. Sharing a future.
"What is it?" She asked, clearly noticing his confusion.
"No, nothing, it's just so real."He answered.
"What do you mean?" She asked, but he never got the opportunity to answer, because just that second the door to the room burst open, and two little kids came running in to the room.
Both of them flew up on the bed in such speed that he almost fell out of it.
"I was first, I won!" The older one, a boy that looked like he was about five, happily stated.
"But it's not fair!" The younger one responded unhappily. She was wearing a pink pajama and in one of her hands she held a brown teddy-bear. She looked like she was about three. "You're much older than me!"
"Hey hey hey." Sarah calmed them down. "What's going on?"
The boy crawled over to Sarah and sat down in her lap.
"We had a competition." The girl started."About who would get to your bed first. Stephen got her first, but he's faster than me! It's not fair!"The little girl complained.
"But you can't change the rules now that the competition is over!" The boy responded. "That's not fair either Emma!"
"Okay calm down both of you." Sarah said slowly."Let's say that both of you won, is everyone happy then?"
The boy and girl nodded.
"Okay then, both of you won!"
The girl and boy smiled and the little girl crawled over to sit in Chuck's lap.
Terrified he felt the small child cuddle down in his lap and then she grabbed his hand in hers.
"So, who wants me to make some pancakes?"Sarah said with a smile.
"I do! I do!" The girl and boy yelled, and in a few seconds they were down from the bed and out of the room.
Sarah laughed and climbed down from the bed.
"Are you coming honey?"She asked him.
"Umh, yes, of course." He babbled, and stepped out of the bed too, and followed her down some stairs to a big modern kitchen, with color-full toys everywhere on the floor.
"So, chocolate-chip or banana pancakes?"Sarah asked, as she tied a white apron with the text "World's best mom" around her waist.
"Chocolate-chip!" The two kids yelled at the same time, and Sarah started to laugh.
"Then chocolate-pancakes it is!" She responded with a smile.
The two kids sat down and Sarah begun with the mixture. Chuck was just about to sit down too when he felt someone tugging his shirt. He turned around and saw the little boy looking at him with big eyes.
"Dad?"
"Umh, yeah?" He responded, somewhat uncomfortable.
"Who is that?"The boy asked, and pointed at the window.
Chuck turned around, and looked at the window. Outside it stood Daniel Shaw, with a gun in his hands, and an evil smile on his face.
"No." He whispered, but then Shaw raised his gun and everything went black.
Chuck awoke with a start, and sat up. He was sweaty, but the air was ice-cold. Careful not to fall out of the tree he put on the jacket he had been using as a pillow, he didn't feel like falling asleep again.
He leaned back and sighed. It had been a great dream, and a really vivid one too, well at least until the ending. That dream had showed the two ways his life could end up: Either he would end up happy with Sarah, or Shaw would kill them both. But he didn't need a dream to tell him which was they nicest ending.
He closed his eyes again and tried to relax, but it was impossible. He didn't want to fall asleep again. Closing his eyes would mean pressing play at a tape that he knew inside out. At first they were a happy little family, and the Shaw came and ruined it. That was it, every time. That was his real-life situation too. He could succeed and get everything he had ever dreamed of, or he could fail and everything would be destroyed. He didn't need his dreams to remind of how much was at stake.
Sarah. He looked at the tree where she was resting. Tired he searched through the branches, looking for her silhouette. But there wasn't any. More carefully he searched through the tree again, still nothing.
"It's probably the wrong tree." He tried to calm himself, but a small alarm-clock was beginning to ring inside of him.
Desperately he searched through the other trees too, but nothing. She was gone. He had only been asleep for about an hour, but she was gone.
He had lost her.
Quickly he gathered his stuff and climbed down the tree. Where was he going to look for her? Had Shaw taken her? Maybe she had just decided that she wanted to walk a little further before resting? Maybe she was dead? But he hadn't heard any cannon…
At last he decided to walk towards the Cornucopia. That was where the "big final fight" almost always took place. That was his best chance to find her.
Sarah's POV
She was so thirsty. She had been stupid enough to leave the bottle of salt at the cave. How was she now going to get clean water? She could at least have taken some of it! Tired she sank down against a big rock. She had been walking for hours, with a half an hour rest in a tree. Now she was back on her feet and ready to win the whole thing. Except that she wasn't. She wasn't ready to do anything. When she first left the cave she had tried to become Sarah at the training center. The Sarah that had no emotions, the Sarah that could do anything. But it was impossible. After those days she had spent with Chuck she couldn't go back to being that person. She knew now that if Chuck died then she wouldn't be able to act like nothing had happened. She could no longer fool herself into thinking that she could be happy if she won. That nothing had happened between her and Chuck, cause something had happened. She had fallen in love, but it was a doomed love, and there was nothing they could do about it. So she had done the only thing she could've. She ran. She kissed him and ran. What else could she have done? If she had stayed then it could've come down to the two of them, and how were they supposed to kill each other? So she ran and hoped that they wouldn't have to see each other get killed.
It all felt so strange. How her biggest dream about Chuck was to avoid seeing him get killed. Or for him to see her get killed. She honestly didn't know if she even wanted to win anymore.
She looked thirstily at the water in a small pound beside her. She had to start walking again, she had to keep moving otherwise she would fall asleep.
She rose and with aching feet she continued to walk.
She walked for hours, and at dawn she got to the Cornucopia. It was a beautiful sight. On the meadow was a light mist, and the pink clouds showed that the sun would start rising at any minute. She inhaled the cold but fresh breeze and took in the scenery in front of her. This could very well be her last sunrise. As if he had read her mind a voice behind her said:
"Enjoying your last day in life?"
She turned around, and there he was.
Daniel Shaw was standing with his hands crossed over his chest and looked at the sky with an unreadable face.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" He said when she didn't answer.
"Yes, it is." She answered, while she searched for hidden weapons on his body.
"So, do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?" Shaw asked, and finally turned to face her.
She quickly reached inside her jacket and grabbed her knife.
"That would be the hard way." Shaw said with a smile. "But I can't say that I'm unhappy with your choice, I like a good fight, and the audience does too."
"Shut up Shaw." She growled, and stepped closer to him, she really hated his cocky attitude.
"What's with this angry attitude Walker?" Shaw asked with an evil smile.
He took a step forward and now they were only three feet apart.
"Are you sad because you didn't get the happy ever after ending with lover boy?"
He sighed, and fingered with the knife in his hand.
"Let's end this pathetic little love story huh? To save the rest of us the nausea we get from watching it."
He raised his knife and she did the same, and then the fight was on.
Chuck's POV
How far away could the Cornucopia be? He had been walking for hours, and he couldn't even see the big meadow yet. The cave had been further away than he had thought.
He looked up at the sky. Slowly the black sky was becoming pink. Dawn was close. He pulled the jacket tighter around him and continued walking. He was going to save her. He couldn't give in to his exhaustion or to his aching body. He had to continue, for her.
Half an hour later he stepped through the bushes that surrounded the meadow where the Cornucopia lay. It was an amazing sight with the sunrise and the golden Cornucopia in the middle, and he shivered as he thought about all of the lives that had ended there. All of the dreams and hopes that had been crushed to pieces, and then disappeared, just where he was standing. He looked around the big meadow, but froze as he discovered two silhouettes on the other side of the meadow. Slowly he walked closer, maybe it was some wild boars? As he got closer one of the silhouettes suddenly threw himself over the other one. He squinted at them, and realized that they were both too big to be wild boars, they were humans, and not just any humans, it was Sarah and Shaw.
Before he could do anything Shaw had knocked Sarah down on the ground, and she remained lying down. Shaw raised his knife and walked closer to her.
Panicked he started running to them, and before he had made any sort of plan in his head he had thrown himself over Shaw. He hit with such speed so that both of them, still with a tight grip around each other, rolled away several feet.
"What the hell?" Shaw yelled as he quickly stood up and backed away.
"What?" Chuck asked cockily as he quickly stood up too."You can't handle a little competition?"
Shaw growled and stepped closer, but kept looking nervously at the place where Sarah was laying. Chuck looked over at the place where Shaw was looking, and noticed that Shaw's knife lay in the grass. He had dropped it when Chuck had hit him.
"Not so cocky without your weapon huh?" Chuck asked, but his happy moment quickly ended when he realized that the blank item next to Shaw's knife was his own knife.
"So, I guess we'll have to solve this the old fashioned way? Man to man." Shaw stated, and looked at Chuck again.
Chuck looked away from what had felt like his last lifeline, and looked into the evil eyes of Daniel Shaw.
"I guess we'll have to." He answered, sounding a lot cockier than he actually felt.
Before he even had time to tie his fists he had gotten an elbow in his face, and he straggled backwards. As he felt the blood begin to run down from his nose he stepped closer again, only to be met by a new blow. Blinded both by the pain but also by blood streaming down in his eyes he once again staggered backwards, and felt his face swollen up.
"Isn't this fight going to way you had imagined? Poor little baby… First you get killed, and then I'm going to kill your girl okay? I'm going to make her suffer, real bad. She is going to endure more pain than anyone ever has."As Shaw spoke he looked up at the sky and sighed, almost as if he was enjoying the situation.
"I'm not going to let you touch her!" Chuck yelled as he once again stepped closer to Shaw. Substantiated by the threats against Sarah he hit Shaw in the face with all of his strength, and now it was Shaw's time to stagger backwards.
"You're not going to touch a hair stray on her head okay?" He yelled as he once again prepared to hit Shaw in the face, but this time Shaw was faster. As Chuck raised his hand Shaw grabbed it and twisted it behind Chuck's back. As Chuck tried to drag it back Shaw tripped him over and he fell down on the ground with a thump that took away his breath.
He desperately tried to get up again, but Shaw was too strong. Confused he watched as Shaw was digging after something in his pockets, but the confusion stopped when Shaw pulled out a knife.
Shaw looked at his wide eyes and smiled.
"I never said that I would play fair. I had this one here all along."
"How very brave and honest of you." Chuck managed to say as he struggled to get up again.
Shaw just smiled and slowly raised his knife.
"Say goodbye Chuck."
But as he lowered the knife he got a strange expression in his face and he looked down. Chuck looked down too, and discovered the reason to Shaw's pause.
Out of Shaw's stomach was a silvery object stuck, namely a knife. Chuck quickly stood up and backed away.
Shaw looked confused down at the blood that was spreading over his shirt and swayed a bit.
Behind Shaw stood Sarah with wide eyes and a bad bruise in her face.
"You bitch." Shaw whispered and before Chuck could react Shaw had shoved his knife into Chuck's breast. Then Shaw fell down and the cannons confirmed his death.
"Boom!"
"Chuck!"
Sarah ran over to him and he fell to the ground too. Shocked he looked down at the blood spreading all over his shirt.
"Oh my god! Chuck!"
Sarah knelt beside him ripped up his shirt. She gasped when she saw the wound, and he knew that there was nothing she could do.
"Maybe if I take my jacket as bandage? Do you have water? We need to clean it."
Sarah started to take off her jacket and he stoppd her with his hand.
"Sarah."
"What?" She whispered, and he knew that she was panicking.
"Stop."
"What do you mean? No I can't stop! If I stop then you'll… you'll…"
Tears filled her eyes and she continued to take her jacket off.
"No Sarah, let it be."He whispered hoarsely.
"What? No! I can't do that!" She answered quickly."We have to stop the bleeding."
"Sarah." He said, more firmly this time, and winced in pain as the knife moved slightly. "You have to listen to me, there is nothing you can do, this is a fatal injury, I'm going to die anyway."
Her eyes overflowed at his direct speech and he grabbed her hand.
"What am I supposed to do? I can't live without you Chuck!"
She crumpled her jacket and laid it under his head, and he stroke away a strand of hair from her face.
"Of course you can. You're Sarah Walker, the bravest person I know."He answered hoarsely as he tried not to show her much pain he was in, she was suffering enough as it was.
"But I love you Chuck!"She whispered with tears streaming down her face.
"I love you too." He whispered back, as he thought of the dream he had had earlier that day. That would never come true. The two of them together, having a family, that would never come true. His plan had failed, and he was dying. Slowly he reached inside his pocket and found the small pill. There was no use in taking it, he would be dead within minutes anyway, and he had no chance, all of the cameras where at the two of them. Chuck + Sarah would remain being the couple that could never be.
"Here, take this." He whispered as he handed her the small rock. "Then I will always be with you."
She grabbed the rock and looked at it.
"Chuck + Sarah." She whispered, and he knew exactly how she felt. How unfair it was that the two of them never got a real chance with each other, how unfair it was that it had to end this way, how unfair it was that their dreams would never come true.
"I will never forget you Chuck Bartowski." Sarah said, and bent down to kiss him. Their lips met and then he whispered:
"And I will never forget you Sarah Walker."
And then Chuck Bartowski's heart stopped beating, the cannons released one final bullet, and Claudius Templesmith's voice boomed around the meadow.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present the winner of the 84th annual Hunger Games!"
Soooooo
That was a bit of a surprise huh?
How will this mess play out? Well stay tuned to find out!
So right now I'm thinking about if I should continue with this story when the whole games-storyline is over, and if I am then I could really use some ideas for a new storyline, so if you guys have ANY ideas at all then please leave me a PM or write it in a review.
Please leave a review, and don't forget that a long one really is appreciated!
